NewYork-Presbyterian and Walgreens are collaborating to deploy a consumer telehealth program.

But for now, the program is limited to one kiosk with telehealth capability at a single Walgreens’ store in Manhattan.

The first NewYork-Presbyterian NYP OnDemand kiosk is in operation at a Duane Reade location at 40 Wall Street in Manhattan, with additional locations expected to open in 2018.

The kiosk, located in a private room inside the stores, offer instant examination, diagnosis and treatment of non-life threatening illnesses and injuries.

A patient can use the kiosk to go online and connect with board-certified Weill Cornell Medicine emergency medicine physicians, who provide exams through a high-definition video-conference connection. At the end of the examination, if the physician writes a prescription, it can be instantly sent to the patient’s preferred pharmacy.

Pediatric emergency medicine physicians will also be available to provide care. Physicians from ColumbiaDoctors are expected to participate in early 2018, the hospital says.

“These kiosks provide real-time care for our patients,” says Dr. Augustine M.K. Choi, dean of Weill Cornell Medicine.

In addition to the in-store kiosks, Walgreens customers in the New York area can use Walgreens.com to access NYP OnDemand Urgent Care providers for digital doctor visits. HOW DOES THAT WORK?

“Telemedicine can play a critical role in connecting patients with providers,” says Walgreens divisional vice president for digital health Greg Orr. “NewYork-Presbyterian will be the first local healthcare provider to collaborate with us on our evolving telehealth and digital strategy.”

The NewYork-Presbyterian kiosk is enabled with several medical devices to provide key information to the physician during the virtual visit. These include a forehead thermometer that measures temperature with a gentle swipe of the forehead, a blood pressure cuff to measure blood pressure and a pulse oximeter that measures the amount of oxygen in the body. A dermascope, which allows the provider to see a high-resolution view of skin conditions, is also available.

Visits are expected to take 10 to 20 minutes but will vary depending on the patient’s individual needs. The urgent care service is designed to care for non-life threatening conditions, illnesses and injuries such as: sore throat, allergies, rash, pink eye, abdominal pain, asthma, cold or the flu, dizziness, fever, and sprains.

The relationship with Walgreens is the latest move from New-York Presbyterian to expand telehealth. In July 2016, NewYork-Presbyterian launched NYP OnDemand, a new telehealth initiative that enables patients, doctors and other healthcare providers to perform a broader range of web-based healthcare transactions.

In May 2015 Walgreens began working with MDLive Inc., a Sunrise, Fla.-based mobile health app developer, to offer digital doctor visits for a fee of $49 per visit. It is now available to consumers in more than 40 states.

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